remindmeofthe | (no subject)

(Plz to be pardoning typos, I ran out of time typing this up and had to run to class.)

Hey, look! An online music store that sells files you can actually play on something other than an iPod!

This is such a good idea. iTunes is a pain in the ass for those of us who like our non-iPod MP3 players - you have to DL the song, burn it, rip it, and then put it on your player. And this, come to think of it, is just with an .m4a file. I don't know if an iTunes purchase can even be burned. Tell me, iTunes, why should I give you money for a song I have to go thrugh hoops to listen to outside my house, if I can at all, when I can hassle a friend into downloading it for me (I fear using LimeWire on a PC)?

On the other hand, now I can go to Amazon, get the song I want, and put it on my player no hassle. I have a vague awareness that this is hardly the first place where you can get straight-up .mp3 files, but the only other place I've tried was Wal-Mart's website, which wanted me to download a program, and call me snobby, but I don't want Wal-Mart's software on my computer. Amazon requires the same thing, from the looks of it - I can't test it out at school - but I trust Amazon slightly more than Wal-Mart, and it's not so, well, icky. (Apologies to certain Wal-Martian friends I have. You know I think you're cooler than your job!) I'd be quite happy to pay a buck for a song I want without any attendant hassles.

And it's so encouraging that so many record labels have signed up. They're finally getting it! There are plenty of us who would be happy to pay for a song instead of taking our chances acquiring it illegally. You just gotta make it easy for us to do so! People who don't want to pay never will and that's that, but the way they've been doing things have screwed them out of cash from people who do want to pay. I've tried to buy songs online before only to find the process exasperating, and given up in frustration and turned to piracy. Now I can buy a song when I want it, not struggle with a bunch of hassle and bullshit, not expose my computer to viruses and malware from dodgy file-sharing, not bug my friends to avoid that last, and be guaranteed a clear, high-quality file. Go Amazon!

God, I sound like a geek cheerleader. Heh. Oh well. I'm stoked about this. Plus, the second dose of Adderall hit my bloodstream a few minutes ago. I could cheerlead about anything right now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I pity you poor people who do not have access to Meijer. Wal-Mart sucks. If you had a Meijer in your area, you would never go to Wal-Mart again. I can probably guarantee that.

Since I'm too lazy, how much does it cost to download songs from Amazon?

That is lazy. The prices are right near the top of the article. It actually cost you more effort to type out the question than it would have to check. *g*

Pfft, I didn't feel like clicking the link and reading through the article. How was I supposed to know the prices were right at the top?

Because they would know that that is the information most people will want, so they provide it right away?

What is with this simple earth logic? The Jordan in me does not compute this.

On a more SRS note: I like this idea of having another LEGAL downloading source. The prices seem comparable to iTunes. Even though iTunes will probably have the better catalog for awhile. What I could never understand is why other mp3 player companies could not come up with some kind of converter for m4a files. Or was that Apple being an elitist bitch?

There's probably some sort of copyright thing involved, yeah. I mean, why would they go to the trouble of encoding their files for iPods only if the code could be easily and legally broken?

I think it is actually encoded to prevent file sharing. When I purchase a song off iTunes, I'm only allowed to share it on five different computers, and I have to authorize those computers (with my account name/password). I guess my question was worded wrong - why don't other mp3 players have the capability to read m4a files?

Oh! Dude, it's totally a money grab. I mean, if you have a Mac, and it's easiest for you to buy iTunes songs, and all the CDs you rip are automatically encoded as .m4a, well, gee, that makes it awful hard to use anything but the severely overpriced players that Apple just HAPPENS to manufacture, and just HAPPEN to be the only MP3 players capable of reading the files. They must have the .m4a format copyrighted. It's brilliant, yet evil. I wanted an MP3 player for a long time before I got mine, but I didn't bother because I didn't want an iPod, but I only had the Mac. So the biggest advantage of having gotten the Compaq? I was able to get my MP3 player, and get the one I wanted.

There does exist pirate technology to get a Mac to accept a regular MP3 player, but eh - I really don't care to risk fucking up my fifteen hundred dollar machine (yes, that much, and yes, I took out a loan, partly to get started establishing a credit history), um, again so I can walk around listening to music. So I'll still be breaking out the Compaq when I want to update my Zen.

I can see that. I could never understand why Apple decided to let PC users have iTunes/iPods. I wonder if that's the reason why I still don't see many people with mp3 players other than an iPod. But I suppose that generated more money for them in the long run. Although, my mom just got a PC and it cost her almost 1500 as well. PCs and Macs are no longer that far apart in price. I don't know if that's because Apple felt pressure to lower their prices or if my mom got herself a loaded PC.

Not that this will really matter in about a year or two because by then all phones will always be mp3 players.